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Post by Coopsgirl on May 10, 2009 12:33:55 GMT -6
Here you can post book reviews and chat about the books about Gary.
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Post by mariastwin on Aug 20, 2009 19:33:30 GMT -6
Hi. Just joined today, but found the site about a month after it launched. I've been a fan for 40 years - since I saw THE REAL WEST in History class in 7th grade in 1970 - and asked my Mama "Who was Gary Cooper?"
A new book is due in January 2010 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon. Author is Thompson, I believe.
Have you listened to his radio shows? I bought an MP3 CD from otrcat.com for $5 (!) and it has the radio versions of some of his movies from the 40s. Also a program with his Mother and he was the surprise guest. I downloaded it to my iPod and listen to them at lunch break.
Great pictures, most of which I've never seen before and I've been a fan a long time. My screen name is because Gary's daughter and my birthdate is Sept. 15.
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Post by mariastwin on Aug 20, 2009 19:42:30 GMT -6
Oops, the author's name is David Thomson (No "p").
Another book (2004) is Showdown at High Noon: Witch-Hunts, Critics and the End of the Western (Filmmakers).
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Post by Coopsgirl on Aug 21, 2009 18:29:09 GMT -6
Welcome to the site! That's a cute story about how you became a Gary fan . I have several of those radio shows but there are a couple I don't have like the one with his mother. That would be interesting to hear.
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Marisa
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Posts: 38
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Post by Marisa on Aug 31, 2009 16:25:00 GMT -6
Hi, coopsgirl; I just want to tell you that my sister who lives in Oregon came to see me last May and she brought me a biography, Gary Cooper - American Hero by Jeffrey Meyers.
Great idea, changing the photographs of the home page once in a while!
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Post by Coopsgirl on Aug 31, 2009 18:33:07 GMT -6
I have over 2,000 pictures of him (and I'm always finding more) so by changing them up often it's a good way to see them all. I'm still learning how to use photoshop but you can do some neat stuff with it; that's how I made the banner.
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Post by maggiejones on Jan 2, 2010 10:19:39 GMT -6
'Gary Cooper' Description, according to David Thomson 'Cooper was heroic, of course, in his own mind as much as in his scripts. He was manly, tall, and ruggedly handsome. He was a man for a fight'. On screen he was the ultimate all-American hero: lean, laconic and masculine, a lone sheriff battling his enemies in "High Noon", or a tough individualist in "The Fountainhead". Off screen he bedded a host of leading ladies and carefully honed his image, making hundreds of movies and winning two Oscars in the process. Acclaimed film writer David Thomson explores the career and the contradictions of 'Coop', the star who lived the dream in the golden age of Hollywood. I found this book a bit like reading a critics review !!
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gcfanforever
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Oh dear! I'm a bit part player and its because I check the site often but don't login for lazinesI'l
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Post by gcfanforever on Jan 10, 2010 13:23:37 GMT -6
Oh my! I had no idea there was a new book out on Coop. I have virtually all biographies on him. I love the story by Mariastwin about first learning of Gary Cooper 40 years ago. I guess she has me beat....by about a year.
I lived in Los Angeles for much of my childhood and one of the channels would play the same movie for 5 nights straight during the week. Once week, they played The Cowboy and the Lady all week and I was mesmerized! During that same time period, they also played The Pride of the Yankees. That had me asking my mom who Gary Cooper was, too. Shortly thereafter, we went to the library and I found The Films of Gary Cooper by Homer Dickens, which I later received as a gift. From there on out, I was hooked. I even used to set my alarm clock and get up in the wee hours of the night to watch an old GC movie. What a luxury it is to have DVD's and DVR's now!
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Post by mariastwin on Jan 11, 2010 2:18:57 GMT -6
I'd like to thoroughly apologize for recommending the new book on Gary Cooper by David Thomson. I had read other of his writings and never expected much from this book, but the author seems almost vicious. It read like so many parts were left out. I kept getting the feeling that the book was written as though everyone would know the backstory to what he was referring to. My review: poorly written, judgemental. I particularly did not like the last paragraph ... however there were several nice pictures. True, he was not perfect, but he was what he was. We are part of that. We remember, nearly fifty years after he has passed. We remember, and there are new fans discovering this man, and his lifetime of work. Maybe coopsgirl should write a book? Wouldn't it be fun to have a published Scrapbook? Thanks to gcfanforever for the comment. I got the Dickens book in April, 1974 and it cost a whole $4.95! I looked at it so much the cover fell off I later found a hardcover edition in an antique store a few years ago ... Yup, I'm in Oregon, but I've been to Helena and hope to go back again. I've been to near the area where THE HANGING TREE was filmed (Naches, Washington). They have signs at the rest stop advising to beware of the rattlesnakes ... and to watch your step when walking around ... Makes me want to watch THE HANGING TREE again (and again). My brother lives in Montana so I have a weatherbug on my computer - recently it said the temperature where he lives was minus 50! Brrr! I remember reading where Gary said "Shoveling manure at forty below ain't romantic." mariastwin
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Post by Coopsgirl on Jan 11, 2010 20:03:22 GMT -6
That's a shame about the new book. I'm pretty wary of most classic movie bios b/c more often that not it seems they get trashy or bitter. I'm not really sure why. It sounds a little like The Last Hero by Larry Swindell. I liked it very much until he got to the early 40s and he seemed to get a little mean after that. I didn't read anymore of it but a friend who did finish said after he talked about High Noon, he just glossed over the rest of Gary's career and life which is a shame. I have thought how neat it would be to have all this scrapbook stuff in a book; maybe one of these days . I love the Homer Dickens book, I don't know what I'd do without it.
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gcfanforever
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Oh dear! I'm a bit part player and its because I check the site often but don't login for lazinesI'l
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Post by gcfanforever on Jan 12, 2010 17:57:54 GMT -6
Thanks to Mariastwin for the insight about the new bio. Might pass it up but, if it has good pictures, might not!
It is really interesting how much information is passed along that is incorrect. When the Gary Cooper stamp came out in the fall, there was a little article in the Sacramento Bee about Gary and it had numerous inaccuracies. The guy who wrote it even stated Gary was born in England! Geez! I almost responded but didn't get around to it.
My Homer Dickens copy is proudly placed on my livingroom coffee table along with a couple of other beautiful Hollywood stars (1920's-1930's) photography books I collected in Westwood, Los Angeles while a teenager. Don't see books like that anymore.
I'm reading a bio of Tallulah Bankhead right now and there's an interesting tidbit about her chasing Gary, who ran out of her dressing room to escape her, around the time of filming Devil and the Deep. Can't wait to see that movie all the way through!
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Post by Coopsgirl on Jan 12, 2010 19:24:48 GMT -6
Hey GCfan, I also have my Homer Dickens book on my coffee table with my other Gary books. The last time I was in Borders I saw that same Tallulah book and I read that part about Gary too. It had me nearly cracking up b/c she wanted him bad and sounds like she didn't succeed. The Devil and the Deep comes out on dvd Feb 1st. I'm surprised at the amount of wrong info in some of the Gary bios I have read. They get things wrong like how many Oscars he was nominated for and who costarred with him in some of his silents; things that are facts and can be researched and found. If they can't get that kind of stuff right, how do I know the other anectdotal things are right?
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Post by mariastwin on Jan 15, 2010 1:41:48 GMT -6
Re: new book - there are only twelve pictures in it, all have been posted in the scrapbook. To further dissuade anyone from wasting their money on this (118 page) "book" I will relate that on in reporting on the various relationships Gary had with co-stars, he uses the F-bomb to describe the relationship with Grace Kelly. His writing style leaves much to be desired.
Also, the last paragraph of this 118 page book reads "The real Gary Cooper? Well, I think he was a fool for a good suit and a willing woman, and bedding Grace Kelly up in Sonora is one thing, but falling for Anita Ekberg is another. It's a sign of the comic buffoon who didn't show his face too often. But if in the last resort Gary Cooper was a feeble family man, an adulterer and a betrayer, he was like many other people in the age of movies - he was romancing in his dreams. It was just that he was in an unusual position - in the saddle, as it were - and able to take advantage of it. Make me the hero, he said, and left us to wonder if the line carried any irony."
The whole book was written like that, and if there was something that came across as a compliment, the next line would immediately be sarcastic or backhanded. No, this book was not worth the wait - luckily it was modestly priced ...
As to the article that came out when the stamp was released that was full of misinformation ... way back in the day I had to write a story for some HS English class or another ... so, I had recently been reading about Gary ... and incorporated his background (born in Montana, schooled in England, etc.) and got the comment back that my story had "unrealistic plot elements and that no one would have a background like that ... Little did the teacher know ...
Enjoy reading the posts.
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Post by Coopsgirl on Jan 15, 2010 7:40:11 GMT -6
That is absolutely repulsive. If you didn’t know any better you’d think he was an awful person. Also, including swear words in a novel or other work of fiction is one thing, but they really have no place in a biography unless it’s a direct quote and in this case I’m sure it wasn’t. Who knows what kind of language he may have used when talking with close friends, but as far as official interviews go which is where most quotes are taken from, he was always very tactful and did not use foul language.
When I was in school (kindergarten through 12th grade) I had a close friend. Actually for much of that time I’d say she was my best friend. Things changed however when we entered our teens. She was very nice to me when it was just us and she’d give me genuine compliments and things like that but then at school around the other kids, she would cut me down and take little jabs at me to get a laugh. She was raised in a strictly traditional family where her father made all the decisions and would not allow her mother to work as her place was in the home. She had no intention of going to college and I always knew I would. Now I’m not trying to brag on myself and I do have a point so bear with me. She had many boyfriends during our high school years and I never did but I was better in school and showed more potential. I don’t know if she was a little jealous but maybe that’s why she tried to build herself up and knock me down.
Now for my point. The majority of books written about Gary are by male authors. It may be happening subconsciously but I think that while researching him they find out how many wonderful qualities and abilities he had and how many people had genuine affection for him and they simply feel jealous. They have to knock him down to make themselves feel better. I really can’t think of any other explanation for it. Aside from Maria’s book, I’ve never been 100% satisfied with any of the other books about him. They’ll be going along fine and then they get something wrong like how many Oscar nominations he received or they will compliment him and then in the next breath insult him.
That’s funny Marias twin that your teacher thought your story was unbelievable. I think that’s also part of the problem with the books about Gary. He had an amazing, fascinating life. He was born at the turn of century and grew up as the country also grew up (i.e. into a modern superpower). He had both the wild spirit of the West and the gentlemanly refinement of the old world. He was beloved around the world by men, women, and children with absolutely no “movie star” ego. He was a good son, a loyal friend, a wonderful father, and greatly respected among his peers. It does seem like his only fault was in not being faithful to his wife and if he had also been a perfect husband, I don’t think anyone would believe he was real. While he had been raised with Christian values, it wasn’t until he was a grown man that he really found God and took it all to heart and became the husband he should have been all along. I think the fact that he gave up a 30 something year old habit (having any woman he wanted) shows his depth of character and what an amazing person he was.
If people would just write about these things that would be enough to keep readers interested. His life needs no embellishment, no insults, and no exaggeration.
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Post by maggiejones on Jan 15, 2010 11:53:14 GMT -6
I love it when your beans are steamed ! and you get on that soap box. I couldn't add anything else to what you have written, you do it so well and you have explained what I think is a good analysis of some so called writers. If Thomson was hoping to capture the coop fan brigade and have us warm to his style of writing, he has definitely missed the mark. Its never to clever to screw up as a writer b/c one bad recommendation will out do a dozen good ones.
Hope this makes sense.
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